In his laboratory, he investigates the complex architecture of the plasma membrane -- the double layer of lipid molecules that encloses all cells -- as well as its contribution to signal transduction mechanisms in T cells, whose main job is to fight infection. Lillemeier is developing a combination of super-resolution microscopy based on photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM) with dual-color fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (dcFCS), to directly observe the spatial and temporal distribution of membrane-associated molecules on a nanometer scale. Understanding how these mechanisms become altered in diseased cells will provide routes to new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
The core facility within the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center enables Salk faculty to integrate cutting-edge imaging approaches into their biological research programs.
James Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., director of the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center Core Facility, who joined the Salk Institute from Carnegie Mellon University in December 2009, helps researchers apply both light and electron-based imaging methods to fundamental problems in the life sciences.
The core facility is equipped with some of the most cutting-edge and technically advanced imaging and microscopy instrumentation in the country. One of the key technology enablers is a Libra 120 PLUS Energy-Filtered Transmission Electron Microscope (EF-TEM) from Carl Zeiss Nanotechnology Systems. The Libra 120 PLUS system and the Biophotonics Core Facility will act as a test bed for future developments of correlative light and electron microscopy methods in collaboration with Carl Zeiss Nanotechnology Systems. Also key is the Olympus FluoView 1000 MPE Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman (CARS) microscope, which is the first commercial system of its kind to be installed in North America.
Other instrumentation available to Salk researchers includes, but is not limited to, live-cell confocal and fluorescence microscopy solutions from Carl Zeiss Microimaging, high-speed fluorescence and two-photon microscopy from Olympus America, total internal reflection microscopy (TIRFM) from Nikon Instruments and automation and cell identification technology from Metasystems International.
SOURCE Salk Institute for Biological Studies